Smart Grid Observer


Smart Buildings

GridPoint Launches Grid-Interactive Electric Vehicle Charging Solution for Small and Mid-Sized Commercial Buildings
September 1, 2021
GridPoint takes a whole building approach to managing customers' peak demand charges by analyzing and managing load across several controllable, grid-interactive assets from a single platform, including HVAC, lighting and now EV chargers. Customers can also enroll EV chargers and other eligible building loads into automated demand response (Auto-DR) programs, which deliver additional savings. more

U.S. Department of Energy Provides $65 Million for Grid-Interactive Efficient Building Communities
October 14, 2020
America's 125 million homes and commercial buildings currently use almost 40% of U.S. energy, 74% of its electricity, and account for the great majority of peak electricity demand. Connected communities can leverage the latest advancements in building science, like state-of-the-art sensors, controls, and analytics, to more flexibly manage and deploy grid-scale energy efficiency and distributed energy resources.    more

Department of Energy Announces $80 Million for Innovative Building Technologies and Practices
September 28, 2020
Residential and commercial buildings account for nearly 40% of the nation's total energy demand more than America's industrial (32%) or transportation (28%) sectors. These projects are intended to help improve the energy efficiency of America's building stock, which consists of over 119 million homes and 5.6 million commercial buildings more than half of which were constructed before 1980.    more

Huck Capital and Schneider Electric Announce Partnership to Deliver Energy-As-A-Service
August 17, 2020
The partnership creates an innovative alternative for building owners and operators who want to transition to renewable energy to lower emissions, increase resiliency, and reduce costs without investing in renewable energy assets and relying on specialists to operate the microgrid.    more


U.S. Department of Energy Releases Request for Information on Potential Funding for Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildings in Connected Communities
March 30, 2020
A connected community is a group of grid-interactive efficient buildings with diverse, flexible end-use equipment that collectively work to maximize building and grid efficiency without compromising occupant needs and comfort. Connected communities leverage smart technology, distributed energy resources, flexible loads, and grid integration to cost-effectively reduce energy use and peak demand while improving the occupant experience.    more

New Apartment Building in Troy Provides a Preview of Energy Smart Construction
March 23, 2020
"We expect heat pumps will play a significant role in New York's clean energy future as we aggressively work toward a carbon neutral energy system for heating and cooling as contemplated by the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act," said Commission Chair John B. Rhodes. "Projects such as the one we are enabling today will demonstrate that this technology can provide reliable carbon free heating and cooling, and in many cases reduce demand for natural gas."    more

U.S. Department of Energy Invests $74 Million in Building and Construction Technologies and Innovations
February 12, 2020
The grid interactive efficient building projects will make advances in technologies to link buildings to one another across the internet and the power grid, which would enable a greater degree of flexibility over conventional buildings to reschedule operations to periods of the day when energy is cheaper and more efficient to use.    more

New Digital Library of Exemplar Sustainable Buildings From Across the World Launched
November 20, 2019
Net zero carbon case studies are existing buildings or spaces that can demonstrate they have achieved high levels of energy efficiency and either generate or procure sufficient renewable energy to meet the building's demand over 12 consecutive months. This can be demonstrated either through the use of Green Building Council or other market rating tools that certify net zero carbon performance, or by providing third party verified data to support the net zero claim.    more

ABB Launches IoT Dashboard for Mid-Sized Commercial Building Automation Solutions
November 19, 2019
ABB has launched a new IoT Dashboard that the company reports allows for stronger control, monitoring and automation of all building functions, from dimming and switching of lights to controlling blinds, heating and ventilation.    more

Zero Carbon Buildings for All Initiative Launched at UN Climate Action Summit
September 30, 2019
All buildings must be net zero carbon by 2050 to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, but fewer than 1% of buildings are today. Closing this gap will require dramatically enhanced ambition and execution of more efficient buildings and renewable energy supply. Zero Carbon Buildings for All, a multi-partner global initiative endorsed by the UN Secretary General, was featured at the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit last week.    more

New Report - The Building & Construction Sector Can Reach Net Zero Carbon Emissions By 2050
September 36, 2019
As part of the 10th annual World Green Building Week, the World Green Building Council (WorldGBC) has issued a bold new vision for how buildings and infrastructure around the world can reach 40% less embodied carbon emissions by 2030, and achieve 100% net zero emissions buildings by 2050.    more


Government of Canada Announces Support to Accelerate Transition to Zero Carbon Buildings
February 21, 2019
The Canada Green Building Council launched the Zero Carbon Building Standard in 2017 to provide a solution to achieving Canada's climate change commitments and help existing and new buildings achieve zero carbon.    more

Energy Department Announces $42 Million in Project Selections for Innovative Buildings Research
January 29, 2019
Itron will connect and manage up to 140,000 municipal smart streetlights across ComEd's service territory, leveraging Itron's multi-application IPv6 networking platform that ComEd is using for a variety of smart grid applications.    more

NREL Research Proves Switchable Solar Window Works, Now Focus Moves to Making it Work Better
January 21, 2019
A year after Lance Wheeler attracted international attention for his research detailing a window that could both darken and generate electricity, he's starting over almost from scratch.    more

2019 Predictions - Smart Cities and Smart Spaces
January 15, 2019
As we forge ahead in 2019, the smart city industry will continue to develop and mature as the Internet of Things (IoT) become more and more connected. Gartner noted that smart spaces will evolve in five dimensions in 2019: openness, connectedness, coordination, intelligence and scope - meaning individual technologies for these spaces are working together to create a collaborative, interactive environment. However, the success criteria for use of technology is often defined by the user experience.    more